Saturday, June 27, 2009

More Mid-Century from eBay

Whoo hoo, another pair of fantastic, two-tier, fiberglass Eames machine age lamps! Photographed with two different bulb types, so they do match. The difference in light is from the different wattage bulbs.

And then I debated on this poster. The colors, according to the photo, seemed right. Very 1950’s, but when I won the auction and tried to pay for it, Paypal told me the seller was “unregistered.” I emailed the seller who gave me some double-talk about switching servers and he didn’t know why Paypal said he was “unregistered.”

But, and here’s the dig, he said “better to find out what shipping and insurance and all that will be anyways.”

Exact shipping was listed, insurance was optional. I’m not a newbie when it comes to eBay. I’ve been registered since 2001 and have a few different buying IDs and selling IDs. I’ve been a member of their community chat boards ever since I signed up, so I have heard all the stories that both buyers and sellers tell each other.

Meanwhile, before the auction I could find no comparables to double check the colors. And today I did.

Check the one I won:Nice 1950’s colors, right?

Now look at the one photographed with better color and lighting.

It was advertised as a 1950’s print, but when I see the REAL colors, it’s clearly a 1980’s print. With a portion of the bottom cut off.

I’m the best buyer you could have, I always pay within seconds of the auction ending with no fuss. BUT, the colors were so badly misrepresented and not being registered at Paypal like all sellers are supposed to be, this will be the very first time in thousands of transactions I will pass on.

It’s been 5 days since the auction ended, and not another word from the seller anyways, so I believe there is something wrong with this deal. Maybe it didn’t sell for what he wanted, but regardless, his standing at Paypal is not valid.

By the way, sellers can no longer give buyers negative feedback. I’ve bought and sold thousands of items on eBay, this will be the very first time I let one pass.